Last night, while that horrible CNN debate was droning on-- the DNC should tell CNN there will be no more debates on CNN if they use anchors as viciously bigoted as Abby Phillip-- there was an actual special election going on in Connecticut. One way to look at it is-- a Democrat replaced another Democrat in a blue state. And that is what happened.
The governor of New Jersey is Phil Murphy, a Democrat. Both Houses of the state legislature are controlled by Democrats, the Senate 26-14 and the Assembly 54-26. There's just one New Jersey congressional district that elected a Republican in 2018. It would be easy as pie for New Jersey Democrats to gerrymander the map to make Chris Smith's 4th CD go from an R+8 district to a much more winnable R+1 or 2 or even an even district that a Democratic candidate could easily win.
Erik Paulsen is a mainstream conservative who won his suburban Twin Cities seat (MN-03) in 2008 when Jim Ramstadt resigned. Previously Paulsen had served as the majority leader of the Minnesota House of Representatives. Although the 2008 race was tough-- Paulsen beating Democrat Ashwin Madia 48.5% to 40.9%-- he sailed through his reelection bids... until he got on the wrong side of Señor Trumpanzee.
